The South Beach Diet
One of the latest super-popular diets to hit the UK from the United States, the South Beach Diet has a keen following among celebrities State-side. Both Bill and Hilary Clinton are rumoured to be fans of the diet, so too is the doyenne of US chat shows Oprah Winfrey. Created by Miami Beach doctor Arthur Agaston by ‘accident’ while attempting to help his patient’s cut their risk of stroke and heart attacks, Agaston’s diet allows both carbohydrates and fats and is based on the GI index, though it does differ from the GI Diet slightly.
The diet splits up ‘good’ carbohydrates such as milk, chick peas and apples and ‘bad’ carbohydrates such as white bread and potatoes, depending on how they affect your blood sugar levels. The diet has three distinct phases. Phase one is the strictest part of the diet and lasts for no more than two weeks, during which time dairy, breads, starchy foods as well as some fruits and vegetables are all banned. Phase two slowly introduces some of these banned products and by phase three dieters should have adapted to their new ‘lifestyle’ diet and be comfortable doing without many of the food-stuffs they used to eat on a regular basis. Dr. Agatston offers an explanation of how the diet works in his book, saying “What we’re concerned with here is the speed with which our bodies get at the sugars….If the body experiences a fast infusion of sugars, a lot of insulin is required. If the sugars are metabolised more slowly, the insulin is released gradually. This is a crucial difference, as far as obesity is concerned: fast sugar is worse for you; slower is better.”
Like the GI diet, the South Beach Diet is seen as a way of re-educating people to eating a healthy and well balanced diet as well as a way to lose weight and keep the weight off without succumbing to yo-yo dieting. www.southbeachdiet.com
Downside: The slow reintroduction of ‘banned’ foods can cause followers to slip back into unhealthy ways.
The original low carbohydrate diet espoused by the late Doctor Atkins, this diet cuts out the carbs, but allows people to splurge on fats and proteins. The assumption behind the success of the weightloss plan is that most people eat too many carbohydrates such as pasta, bread and potatoes, which the body burns first – before fat – for energy. By cutting down on carbohydrates and eating more fats and proteins, such as red meat, the body burns fat more efficiently and faster. Weightloss can be rapid; perhaps a reason why the diet initially gained massive popularity among Hollywood stars such as Jennifer Aniston and Minnie Driver, as well as countless other A-listers determined to look their best for forthcoming movies.
A 2004 study in the United States, which was published in the journal Nutrition & Metabolism, claimed that low-calorie diets such as the Atkins may be the most effective way for men to lose weight. The study found that over 70% of men lost more weight and fat on a low carbohydrate diet, despite eating more calories.
However, recent research has shown that over the long-term Atkins is no more effective a way at losing weight than eating a balanced and healthy diet, and many health experts are worried about the long-term affect to a person’s health eating a high fat-low-carb diet can be. While Atkins may be effective at helping lose weight quickly, long-term, results are less effective and the health risks high.
Downside: Long term health benefits are questionable, can also lead to bad breath and headaches.
The GI Diet
It’s the diet of choice for millions currently trying to lose weight and one of the few diets to meet with approval from nutritionists and dieticians. It is also a big hit with celebrities with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Naomi Campbell and Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall all supposedly fans.
Originally developed by Dr. David Jenkins, a professor of nutrition at the University of Toronto, the GI Diet works off the Glycaemic Index, a way of seeing how certain foods raise blood sugar levels. Most foods raise the GI index in one of three ways: dramatically, moderately or slightly. Foods that lead to a considerable rise in blood sugar levels are deemed to have a high GI level. On the diet, foods are broken down into a simple traffic light system so that you know what foods are safe to eat plenty of, and which to avoid. The way you lose weight is through avoiding foods that have a high GI index.
The theory behind diets based on the Glycaemic Index is that foods with a low GI are ‘energy storers,’ slowly releasing sugar into the blood so that you feel fuller for longer and are less likely to be tempted by high calorie, low energy, snack foods like doughnuts and chocolate. The GI Diet is a way of learning about what foods work best for your body and should be adapted as part of a healthy lifestyle, not as a one-off quick-fix measure to lose weight quickly. Evidence shows that the GI Diet can reduce your risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. Buy the Low GI Cookbook for £5.99. Click Here
Downside: Every food has its own GI level therefore it can be time consuming to look up each food’s value. As it relies on balanced lifestyle changes weightloss usually occurs slowly rather than rapidly.
Extreme Celebrity Diets
For every Halle Berry or Brad Pitt in the world of celebrity, desperately working out and counting the calories to maintain the body beautiful, there is a Robert Downey Jr, Iggy Pop or, dare we say it, Frank Bough, who just doesn’t care! We explore the most popular and most extreme celebrity diet of them all…
By far the most popular celebrity diet of the last 30 years must be the one pioneered by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. The Richard’s ‘Rock and Roll’ diet is quite simple to follow but does require considerable dedication. To be successful at losing weight, the diet consists of consuming nothing but cigarettes, alcohol and large quantities of drugs on a daily basis, as well as epic ‘exercise sessions’ either on stage, with a guitar/microphone in hand, or back stage with the ladies. To avoid total burn-out the diet is supplemented by the occasional morsel of food, recovery sessions at exclusive spa hotels and constant help from a dedicated doctor. The Richard’s Rock and Roll diet has proved a very popular celebrity diet over the years and the skinny appearance of all those who have followed it – Iggy Pop, Led Zeppelin, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers – can only attest to its effectiveness.
Downside: It is a difficult diet to stick to forever and there is a strong likelihood of it leading to death very easily!!
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